Review of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind
After watching the first parts of Jojo and especially Stardust Crusaders, I wanted to watch Golden Wind, but the setting and scenario just didn't grab me initially and I repeatedly dropped the anime after the first two episodes. The story is basically a self contained story of Giorno (who is the illegitimate son of Dio Brando) who lives in Naples and wants to become the Mafia Boss and kill the current Boss. Initially I just did not see why this Giorno was compelling, and I felt like the story didn't have the stakes of Stardust Crusaders. However, once I got into this anime and forced myselfto watch for a bit, I got completely sucked in.
To the point that it actually became my favorite arc of Jojo ever. To make it simple, the basic scenario/plot (which is a classic mafia story) is not important. What makes it stellar is!
1) The cast of characters is awesome: Every single character is fun. Giorno is pretty much an introverted protag but the meaning of that really makes him awesome. He's not a brute like Jotaro, he's a kind young man that uplifts others and makes them "Golden". The irony of him being Dio's son also adds to the wholesomeness of the story. Then you have the rest of the cast, who all have interesting backstories and personalities, from the hilarious yet deadly Mista, or the charismatic Bruno. You also have Trish, who is arguably one of the coolest and hottest female characters in Jojo. I also thought no villain could top Dio, but the Mafia Boss is truly terrifying and his stand ability is fearsome.
2) The stands and stand battles in this arc are better than any arc before. They really got creative in this arc. We are far past stands like Star Platinum which are just high speed and power. Now you have stands that for example, cause a deadly virus to be released (bioweapon style), or Giorno's stand "Golden Experience" which infuses life into everything. It's all fun and creative, and leads to really awesome fights.
Conclusion: I had a hard time watching this arc at first, but it became my favorite Jojo arc.
Allow yourself to get pulled into this wholesome story of Giorno and his Mafia crew. It's worth it in the end.
Also, you don't need to know about any Jojo stuff to watch this. It's a self contained story with just a few references.
All you need to know is that characters have "stands", which are supernatural entities they can manifest.
Bonus: The Ending Song in part 2 is literally by Enigma! Isn't this awesome?! Such a classic band.
When final credits rolled on "Golden Wind", I was sad but glad that I watched this.
It's not epic like Stardust Crusaders, but its more of a kino experience, which was even better for me!
Strongly recommended!
I only give 9/10 and not 10/10 because I feel that some character deaths didn't happen satisfyingly, and because the plot was slightly barebones, with some character development lacking.